On the 9th January 1942 HMS VIMIERA detonated a mine in the Thames estuary and sunk with the loss of 93 lives.

On Monday 9 January, the 75th anniversary of the sinking of HMS VIMIERA, Lt Cdr Frank Donald RN (Ret) will lay a wreath on behalf of the V & W Destroyer Association at the war memorial of the Clydeside Division of the RNVR in Graham House, Glasgow, formerly HMS GRAHAM.

Many of the 93 men who died when VIMIERA sank were from Clydeside and Cdr Roger Hicks, the CO of VIMIERA during the Boulogne evacuation, presented the ship's bell to HMS Graham as a memorial to the men who died.

Frank Donald's father died on the bridge of HMS VIMY at Boulogne and he went to Dartmouth with the son of Cdr Roger Hicks RN.

Frank describes how HMS VIMIERA came to be sunk, the search for the missing ship's bell and the fate of the 127 men aboard VIMIERA when she sunk on the web site of the V & W Destroyer Association: [vandwdestroyerassociation.org...survivors.html]

He has been greatly assisted in his research by a feature article in the Glasgow's main newspaper The HERALD on the 13 December and the Herald will also be covering the laying of the wreath on Monday, the anniversary of her loss, and we are hoping this will lead to us being contacted by the families of the men in VIMIERA when she detonated the mine 75 years ago.

If you have further details of the men in the photograph of the ship's company or the owner of the ship's bell please contact Frank Donald via the web page.

Bill Forster